


The Light of a Whole World

by FarFlungDreamer



Series: Man Hands on Misery to Man [1]
Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, All the Wrong Questions - Lemony Snicket, Lemony Snicket: An Unauthorized Biography
Genre: F/M, KitXCountOlaf, Kitlaf, KitxOlaf, kit/olaf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:55:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24582637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FarFlungDreamer/pseuds/FarFlungDreamer
Summary: Kit Snicket and Count Olaf fell in love, all those years ago. Two members of the same organization Kit and Olaf had lives all their own. One night after a long meeting at V.F.D. headquarters they each grabbed the other's eye and there was no looking back. They'd met their match in more ways than one. What unfurled was a beautiful beginning that would never come to be. Part I of IV.A link to a music video I created for this ship, it would follow the events in the next part of the series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfYpS1orf-g
Relationships: Count Olaf/Kit Snicket, Jacques Snicket & Kit Snicket & Lemony Snicket
Series: Man Hands on Misery to Man [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1776865
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	1. The World is Quiet Here

* * *

The Snicket twins were sitting back, having tea on a Saturday afternoon when the subject of Lemony came up finally. They’d discussed many things at Jacques’ favorite teahouse but as soon as the couple next to them had left, and they could really talk, of course Kit dived right into the conversation.

“I’m so relieved he’s back.” She admitted, the worst part of getting caught and busting out was that Lemony had disappeared in the meantime. The only good thing to come out of it was not losing the item. It hadn’t seemed worth it with her baby brother disappearing. Kit had been running for it, but that girl Feint was rather tight lipped, and she’d only learned as much as she did through vague hints. 

Jacques had been survelling him but hadn’t seen where he’d gone. The two siblings had secretly spent his time away worrying and quietly searching. It seemed impossibly longer than it had actually been. Lemony came back, though.

“Yes, he gave us a real scare,” Jacques agreed with a nod. “I told you he’d be okay.”

“I believe I told you that,” Kit smirked.

“Hmm, perhaps the other way around, dear sister.”

“Perhaps not, dear brother,” She mustered a response while restraining her laugh. Kit could tell he was too. They sipped their tea instead, rather unfortunately, and eyed an overly friendly waiter until they moved on from cleaning the table beside them. Kit then leaned back in. “Has he talked about it with you?” She asked curiously, looking at her twin analytically. 

“No, I thought maybe he opened up with you.”

“No, I think he feels bad about the fountain still,” Kit frowned. She could just tell, and whatever he’d been up to it was clear both that and Stain’d by the Sea had had some profound effect on their brother. It troubled Kit all the more. They should never have arranged for Lemony to have such a terrible Chaperone. It had felt so necessary at the time, but surely they could have gotten around it. Perhaps it would have changed things.

“Hm,” He nodded, and then shook his head. “Well he’s back now, nothing to worry over anymore.”

Kit nodded but wasn’t sure. She was afraid it must have affected him whatever happened to derail that train they’d all been on. Enough to have him walk off and denounce the Volunteer’s. Lemony had said he wasn’t old enough, someone had told her. She wished she could have seen the official reports.

“Who knew he was going to be such a rebel,” Jacques mused, sipping his tea.

“You’re surprised?” She laughed, at the simple way Jacques put everything. “Remember that time he had everyone outsmart their test?”

“Yes, but I blamed you for that.”

“What?” She rolled her eyes. “I certainly never thought of that during training!”

Sometimes she got a certain idea in her head, and wasn’t afraid to voice it, or she had a lack of healthy fear of an idea… but she hadn’t ever gotten quite so out of line. She admired it of course, he’d been brilliant. 

“I was there remember, you did just as bad?” He chuckled. “You’re definitely the bad influence,” Jacques said, nudging her side.

“Me?”

“Yes, that’s why I’m the older brother, and you’re the bad influence,” Jacques told her and her eyes twitched like they always did.

“By minutes,” She reminded her twin.

“Well... then, I haven’t been to prison,” He said with a grin, knowing how to rib her.

“Jail,” She corrected, and then muttered. “And I didn’t stay.”

Jacques laughed grinning. “No, no, that was good work,” He relented, then frowned at his near empty tea. “You’re making my point, though, you’re the family rebel. He’s following suit.”

“You’re implying rebellion is a bad thing,” Kit sniffed. _“Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.”_

“Camus?” Jacques mused and then shook his head. “Touche Kit, touche.”

She smirked and then leaned over to give his cheek a kiss. He grinned and Kit sat back to retake her tea before it got cold. He must have known she’d win that argument, but she wondered if that was what it was with Lemony. She was going to have to give him a little nudge to see what he had been doing, or at least why. She wanted to know to the point she knew he was okay. They, as Volunteers, needed their secrets, she knew, but this felt very significant for their baby brother, and she wanted to make sure he was alright.

“Any chance B is back?” Kit asked, reaching to fill Jacques’ tea from the pot they were sharing. He thanked her before raising a brow. Kit cleared it up. “I just wonder, you know he’s rather fond of her. Maybe he’d talk to her.”

“Unfortunately she and O are still off on another assignment,” Jacques told her with a mock pout, only taking one sip of his tea before losing it. “We’ll just have to wrestle our little brother into compliance on our own.”

“We better prepare a very fine thesis,” Kit joked, making Jacques nearly snort out his tea.

“Kit, I do believe you’ve got an idea there.”

Kit shook her head, he was terrible. They both laughed, and although the matter hadn’t been cleared up at all, Kit felt better already with her twin and herself on the same page.


	2. “I am looking for the one I can’t fool.”

* * *

  
Kit pushed her hand of cards forward by their organization's symbol in the middle, signalling she was done for the night. That was more than enough poker for her! They knew better than to waste time arguing with her, so Jacques and Lemony turned on other friends.

“Come now Monty, don’t be dull,” Jacques finally spoke up from where he was silently watching the players around the card table. Kit had already played enough hands, but Lemony and Jacques were still in, prompting other people to join.

“Fine, but I want another person. I don’t trust Beatrice with only four of us,” He chuckled good naturedly.

“How absurd,” Beatrice feigned, and Kit shot her a grin. 

The three boys looked around the half empty hall. The meeting had finished hours ago. Still many of them lingered. They so rarely had this number gathered that it was typical for them to stay awhile and enjoy the company of other well read, like minded people. Kit was just glad to be with her brothers and friends, relaxing.

“O,” Beatrice suddenly called, and Kit glanced up at who approached. It was someone she did not fully recognize as O. Yes, he had the same monobrow, angular features and was still very tall, but he looked much different than her memory allowed. Hm. The last time she’d probably seen him but in meetings scattered, or a dark theatre, was likely just after his and B’s apprenticeships were over. He’d really filled in since then, not quite as lanky as he’d once been, and his face had filled out too. O looked very distinguished, actually, a far cry from the disobedient youth always getting into an argument with her younger brother.

“Will you join our short table?” Lemony asked begrudgingly, after a nudge from Beatrice.

“Well the table looks normal to me,” O said with a short laugh, coming to stand behind Lemony.

“Short table is a phrase here used to refer to a short table poker tournament.”

“Come on, Olaf,” Beatrice insisted. “You know how to play, it was all we had time to do on the boxcar out of that forest.”

“Oh don’t remind me,” O said with an overdone shudder. 

“Well?” Jacques prompted.

“Fine, fine, fine,” O drawled, tugging a chair up between Beatrice and M. “Deal away.”

Kit watched the table as they all tuned in, one had to pay particular attention when playing cards with a bunch of Volunteers. Which was why she’d finished for the night, she was tired and simply wanted to enjoy everyone’s company now. Her brothers, and her good friend Beatrice especially. Kit hadn’t spent much time with Monty or Olaf, she knew M a little better from school. He was on his way to becoming a wonderful herpetologist and she’d always found he had a wonderful sense of humor and a knack for Italian.

Olaf, though, had gone through classes with Lemony and Beatrice, so she hadn’t spent much long term time with him. If she recalled there had been something between Lemony and him over an incident with ink. She remembered O getting kicked out at some point. Another time he had to move to a separate school before being allowed back to an apprenticeship, rumors told, and of course everyone remembered his good work securing the theatre for their coded movie viewings.

“I’m juicing this deal, my percussive blackmail,” Olaf said, brandishing a photograph of a far too innocent looking piano.

“Really?” Beatrice’s surprise drew Kit out of her thoughts. “Finally you relinquish it?”

“Well, my friend, it’s worth the pot. Besides, I haven't lost!” Olaf chuckled.

“It was so cramped in there!” Monty said exasperated. “B was the only one comfortable!”

“It wasn’t so bad,” Beatrice laughed with a twinkle in her eye. Kit was more interested in her younger brother’s sudden glum look. Was he not a fan of Bertrand? Or was Beatrice too much of a fan for Lemony’s taste? Jacques and she shared a quiet smirk with each other. 

“Olaf took long enough getting us out though!”

“How quick do you want a good photo M?” Olaf scoffed, suddenly frowning across the table. “Come on, L, you’re in turn,” Olaf poked at Lemony.

“Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” Lemony said softly, still gazing around the table. Kit smiled at her younger brother’s tactful use of that metaphor.

“We’re playing cards, not _trees_ , Snicket,” Olaf snorted. “See, this is why you were never leading man.”

Ah, yes, Lemony had been in the theatre club at Prep, hadn’t he? That must be where he and Beatrice got to know Olaf.

“How poor are they that have not patience? What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” Kit quoted, since he wanted to talk about theatre. Someone had to stick up for her baby brother. She heard Jacques chuckle under his breath, but she was rather caught up in seeing the surprise in O’s eyes. She had meant to enjoy seeing him deflate some, but Kit didn’t find that. Instead his gaze seemed to grow much brighter than they’d just been and he seemed much less crass with the twitching smile.

Their attention was pulled away by Monty next to her.

“Ha! That’s the lot!” Monty cried gleefully, with his ebullient laughter.

“Drat!” Olaf cursed, banging his fist on the table.

“That’s what you get for betting Olaf.” Beatrice teased her friend.

“Another game?” Olaf asked, everyone but M and herself went in.

“So, K, I heard from your time in South America you had a run in with a Corallus Caninus,” M twisted to look at her after he’d retrieved the pot of a screenplay, index cards, coupons for a frosty beverage, and the photo of the piano. “Was it exciting?”

“You mean the Emerald Tree boa?” Kit asked, having to think for a moment. Her fellow Volunteer nodded enthusiastically. “Exciting is one word,” She said with a smile. 

“ _Beautiful_ , aren’t they?” He said, animatedly telling her of a time he had run into a litter of young. She’d only had to deal with _one_ , much less a whole infestation of them. Yet Monty explained it, and the snakes, in such detail she almost loved them too. Any good story could do that. Except that after one was almost crushed by something it was forever after, less charming.

“The usual trick to negotiation is to hold all the cards going in and, even if you don’t, to try to look as though you did,” Kit said with a grin, thinking back to the fact she had no fire. Thankfully the snake seemed to recognize a torch’s gleam and her spyglass did the trick, faking the warmth just enough. “Fortunately the boa seemed to believe my bluff and I didn’t have to hurt it.”

“Fortune indeed! Oh what a shame it would have been, they’ve really fabricated the boa’s danger. Brilliant creatures!”

Just when Kit was going to ask him how training his snacks for bringing codes to one another was going, they were interrupted by a triumphant ‘Aha!’ from across the table. Kit looked up in time to see Olaf gesturing his winning hand. Except that Kit could see something tucked the wrong way.

“So close,” Jacques muttered, frowning. He rarely read his fellow players wrong.

“I suppose you think that was clever, O,” Lemony hummed, setting the cards down.

“Well I _am_ clever,” Olaf reasoned, smirking at his fellow volunteers as a few rolled their eyes.

“No,” Kit suddenly spoke up, leaning up so she could reach over the table and wrap a hand around his wrist. His eyes jerked down at her touch, as did his wrist. Kit gave him back his same smirk from a moment ago. “You’ve got swift fingers,” She tugged a card out of his bent jacket sleeve and waved it in front of him.

He gaped a bit but then had the decency to take the heckling by the other friends playing telling him what a cheat he was. She expected O to get touchy with her, but instead he did a theatrical little half bow and a clap towards her.

“Bravo, Snicket.” Olaf said to her. “But you said it yourself,” Olaf said smugly, and Kit’s eyebrow rose up high. “It’s down to holding all the cards going in.”

“You have a good memory,” She conceded, because… well, how did she argue against herself? Clever move. Kit had also cheated at cards more than once to win favor on an assignment or blend in, but never during a friendly game. The same could likely be said for them all.

“One of my many talents,” He said a tad smug.

He looked away from her, with his captivating stare, to Beatrice telling him off.

“What! Okay, okay, it's not like we’re playing for money, geez,” He laughed as Beatrice gave him a little slap. “I just wanted to see how long it would take a bunch of my fellow Volunteers to catch me!”

“A likely story,” Monty tutted but Jacques was laughing along with Olaf now.

“Really it's all of you who should be ashamed,” Olaf argued amused. “Except for K, of course, she passes.”

“Is that so?” Beatrice said, an elegant eyebrow rose. Kit couldn’t agree more, how did he plan on turning around that he wasn’t at fault here?

He quickly recovered. “I recall something about… hmmm yada, yada, learn card tricks for uncomfortable situations in elevators blah, blah. Is this _not_ a meeting we’re playing at?”

Most of the table laughed and the tension broke. No one could tell him he was wrong, they’d all been taught how to cheat cards as young children. For someone so sharp, he was a little eccentric, wasn’t he? Not in an iditioc way as she’d first thought just… in a carefree kind of way. Olaf didn’t seem to take himself too seriously despite being caught red handed. He sailed out of the situation smoothly. 

She just really didn’t remember him being quite like that during their school days! He’d been in trouble often enough for not paying attention or simply talking back. Of course Kit had talked back plenty through school, she believed it was a healthy attitude to have, but she always paid attention. Clearly with his card trick, though, he’d paid enough attention.

Soon their cards were forgotten, talking and storytelling turned into Olaf and Lemony getting into a heated debate on the proper use of an ink well. A strange thing to argue about. They matched each other point for point before both got up to show the other some technique up by the projector.

“They only get along because I force them,” Beatrice said with a cheeky grin, excusing herself. Kit bid her goodnight and then turned to her twin as he spoke up.

“She’s right, O and Lemony are rather volatile together,” Jacques said with a shake of his head as the two moved away from the table. Kit saw Olaf look back at them, he caught her gaze before he turned to lean down to say something to her baby brother.

“Well he was very…” She faltered, needing a moment to sum the Volunteer up. He was unapologetic in every way, yet he admitted what he did. He wasn’t lying, or hiding it, he seemed rather odd, compared to their usual cohorts.

“Brusque?” 

“Honest,” She finished just after her twin. 

Jaques looked at her, thinking it over before nodding. “I guess so, in a crude sort of way,” He smiled.

“Nice and honest aren’t the same thing,” Kit pointed out and her twin agreed again. “No wonder Lemony is irritated by him,” She laughed lightly.

“He does love to spare people’s feelings,” Jaques said affectionately. 

Kit grinned as they stood up from the table. Her baby brother was a good person, maybe too good for what they had to do sometimes. Sometimes it was better to be at more of a distance, like Jacques and her. Not let himself get caught up in so many things. He could only be who he was, though and she was simply glad to see that he was fully integrated into their world. Lemony seemed to have found his place. Took him long enough!


	3. “If you’re not scared, it’s not bravery.”

* * *

  
Kit stepped out into the hall, watching her fellow Volunteers go out in groups. They usually scattered out alphabetically, but Kit watched M leave next without moving. Jacques paused next to her as he exited, frowning down at her.

“Kit,” Her twin started calmly. She didn’t want to hear it right now.

“We’re supposed to let it go?” Kit spoke, agitated. Her eyes turned up fiercely to her taller brother and frowned harder.

“On this one… yes, Kit. We _should_.”

“Since when is Gifford the expert on this sort of thing?” She exclaimed, shaking her head. She rather remembered him fumbling with her own escape measures when she was younger. Jacques shook his head. The two twins usually agreed, and when they didn’t, many times Kit would defer to Jacques’ good sense but this time? It just felt wrong. Too easy. It felt very familiar to her. 

“He is right, it's too risky.” Jacques shook his head. “One small misstep means H and the item are exposed.”

“And what if it was a distress code?” She pointed out again.

“I know,” Jacques frowned, gripping her shoulder comfortingly. “But it's for the better good to see if he can work it out first.”

“Waiting might mean it's too late.”

“I know you’ve been through this, but it's not the same situation Kit.” Jacques smiled then, thinking of a new point. “Besides, we have to trust each other to handle things, don’t we?”

“Usually, but H sent a message. He’s _asked_ for help.”

“We just don’t know if that’s what it was.” Jacques frowned.

Kit didn’t say anything for a moment. It seemed to her they all knew that was exactly what it was. No one else was objecting though, only Kit. She needed space to think. She glanced at Jacques, but she didn’t want to hear his opinion on this at the moment.

“J before K,” She decided on, gesturing for Jacques to head out ahead of her, even if they usually left together.

He sighed but nodded and walked off towards the exit. Kit sighed too as he walked away. She wasn’t trying to cause a problem, but this just didn’t sit right. Hector had done so much to help with the fountain plan and Kit just _knew_ that was what he meant in his letter. If he’d sent the message, took the risk to get it through, he was in over his head. H was expecting them to come and if he went ahead without that help, well Kit knew how those sorts of plans worked. 

She stood there for another ten minutes trying to figure out how to approach this situation. She could go back to G, but well, that wasn’t going to work. Kit knew she should go get some fresh air for a fresh perspective. She couldn’t make herself do it though. Kit couldn’t shake this one. 

When she saw R call Gifford out to talk, Kit found her feet working before she had time to think and she moved back into the room. She glanced behind her before she slipped the file off Gifford’s stack and slid it under the back of her shirt. She tugged her spyglass out of her pocket, as if she’d forgotten it inside and then stepped back out of the room. Kit walked away from R and G so they hopefully wouldn’t remember she was last in the room.

When fresh air hit her face she still didn’t feel bad. She needed the file if she needed perspective. No one else was going to be using it right now anyways. Perhaps it was the wrong thing to do as a Volunteer… but if she were helping H, her fellow, wasn’t that the right thing? Besides… 

Kit’s thoughts were interrupted by a shout.

“Snicket!” 

She paused, cursing mentally. Bad timing for someone to call her. Someone unusual. Calming her face, she turned to see O was standing behind her, just past the entrance.

“Yes?” She asked with an expectant eyebrow. They stared at each other, studying each other for a moment before he spoke up.

“Your sleight of hand is no better than mine,” He said casually, stepping up to her. He was much taller, so she had to raise her head up to not back down. She didn’t let his gaze go, or blink. 

“No one is playing cards, O,” She said quietly, matching his reference to an annual meeting quite some time ago. Kit gave him one hard look before turning away.

“You’re going anyways, aren’t you?” He said somewhere between an accusation and a demand.

“That’s an assumption,” She spun easily on her feet and found he’d crossed the small distance already and was just behind her.

“It’s a fact,” He corrected her, pointing a finger to her pocket. “I saw you take the map.”

She gritted her teeth, wondering how she could slip past him with enough time for a head start now. She hadn’t even decided to, but now she most certainly had to. How had he happened to see her, anyways? She’d been standing out of the way as the hall emptied out. She supposed he did come after her but still… this put a kink in her possible plan.

“Listen O,” She started off strong.

“You’re right,” He rushed over her words. She paused, eyes rising surprised, and then decided to hear what else he had to say. “G can’t figure it out, he’s wrong and we both know it.”

“What do you propose?” She asked again, glancing over his shoulder, then up, but no one else was around.

“The dial is too important for the spyglasses,” O said quietly, his eyes checking behind her as well. He leaned in a bit, motioning for them to walk. She did so cautiously. “H wouldn’t send word if he didn’t need to.”

“I know,” She agreed, wondering how much she should trust him. Kit dismissed the notion as soon as it whispered in her mind. That's what they did, trust each other. The world was filled with treachery and her fellow Volunteers were the only relief from the fires they had to put out. It was just, not sanctioned, and it felt like that changed things. It didn't, though, H had asked for their help, and they owed it to him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying I need that map but you were faster,” He said with a bit of a grin. Kit found a smile wind on her face, even if it wasn’t the time for smiling. “And I’m saying that he’s being tracked because they suspect him. They won’t see another Volunteer coming. Much less two of us.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Kit admitted.

“Well then, K,” O paused for some reason, getting a gleam in his eye. Then he swept grandiosely with a hand. “Now I’m asking, are you up to a little risk?”

She held his expectant beat for a moment. Then she smiled up at him.

“Kit,” She said smoothly, holding her hand out in front of him. O grinned, and grasped her smaller hand in his.

“Olaf.”

They shook and had a silent understanding. Kit moved quickly down the darkening streets, walking with him this time as they got further away from their headquarters. 

“So, what do you have in mind?” She asked, leaning back to look up at him as they walked side by side. She had her own ideas, but she was always open to collaboration. He glanced above them. She glanced on their right, and Olaf waited to say anything until they got past the man hurrying past them.

“I think I have someone who can put us out of the country by tonight.” They turned the corner and picked up their pace.

“We can’t be seen, it's absolutely necessary for H’s safety,” She stressed.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” He said smoothly, shrugging unconcerned. “It wouldn’t do great things for us in the organization either.”

“That won’t matter, if he’s trapped alone.”

“ _I_ know that,” He said sorely, stopping at the street corner to pull keys out of his pocket. 

“This is me, get in,” He called, ducking into the driver's seat. Olaf swung the door open and Kit slipped in. In the dark as he got going, Kit finally pulled the file out from behind her. The map and H’s position details were all enclosed. She ran her fingers over the poem Hector had submitted to a contest in The Daily Punctilio that they’d been displayed during G’s meeting. H’s message was written within the poem and after rereading Kit was sure they were doing the right thing again. She just didn’t know what to think that someone else was crazy enough to go along with her.

“We slip in, we ensure he’s secure, and we get out,” Kit muttered, slipping the papers out on her lap. Yes, that seemed like the right order to things. Olaf’s driving was a little sharp, but she got the papers to tuck under the folder and they were fine then.

“We get the dial,” Olaf said, as if correcting her. “Then we get him out.”

“Hm...” She muttered, thinking of Olaf’s angle instead. She’d been focused on getting him out only. But why focus only on an extraction if they could make everything go according to plan? It was ambitious, but the best things in life were accordingly so. There was no greatness without risk. “No... we get the dial, we give it to H and then he’s free to slip away.”

Olaf looked over at her and she could see him thinking it over. “That can work,” He sounded impressed but Kit was already pouring over the file again to decide what they would need as she looked over the map of the dial’s location.

“Do you need anything before we get to the airport?” He mimicked her thoughts.

“Not as long as you have a Verified Fastening Device,” She said, glancing at him now. Olaf grinned, oddly enough.

“Are we going climbing, Kit?”

“Could be,” She answered, looking back at the map. Yes… they most likely were.

“Good thing I have one with my Volant Fleeing Duffel then.”

“Good thing,” Kit said, finding herself returning his smile. They were going to go get that dial, and they were going to get H out of there without being caught. Kit knew too well how terribly things went without backup when you charged into it anyways. There was never enough time to think of what you really needed. Hopefully H wouldn’t have to find that out this mission.

**_*Valuable Forward Direction*_ **

“Showtime!” Olaf declared in a hush, returning to the lush office’s back room finally.

“Do you rush to do anything?” Kit asked, slightly vexed as he finally slipped through the door. He didn’t apologize but he ought to, he’d taken far too long and Kit had started to get worried he’d been caught.

“Not if I can help it,” Olaf shrugged, holding up the glass tube. “Coasts clear for now.”

Kit let out a sigh of relief. 

“Here,” He handed the tube to her before turning to watch the door for them. “Get going.”

Kit doubted he saw her nod but she turned to cross the room to the safe, setting the glass against it to listen to the tumblers inside. She suspected something was wrong, or this corporation didn't know what this dial could do. This safe wasn’t very secure. It clicked open and Kit rifled through it before letting out a frustrated sigh.

“You want me to do it?” Olaf called over his shoulder. Kit was so disappointed she couldn’t even roll her eyes.

“This was useless.”

“Aren’t you the one who quotes about patience?”

“It's not in the safe,” She sighed.

_“What?”_

“I knew it looked too easy,” Kit muttered to herself.

“I just thought we got lucky!” Olaf huffed thoughtfully. How positive, but that wasn’t going to help them help H. If they were caught, H was going to get killed and the dial would be lost.

“Let’s go,” Kit decided. H still had his chances, and they could regroup and find a way to leave him a message. They could assist H however he saw fit, he knew the situation better than them. 

“Go?” Olaf stopped looking through the door. “No! Not without that dial.”

“It’s gone, someone else removed it.

“No... that can’t be it,” He said stubbornly. “What did that bore say? Right, a case of _mistaken identity,_ ” Olaf drawled.

Kit didn’t pick up his meaning, although she remembered G’s discussion of the poem and of the decoding. What did that have to do with this being the wrong location? H had meant someone had spotted him by that. They’d all agreed it was the clear code.

“Give me that map.” He snatched it out of her back pocket and ran to the table in the center of the room. He leaned over it, snapping out his spyglass.

“O,” She said quietly over his shoulder as he poured over the map frantically. _“Sometimes you have to know when to quit and give it to the birds,”_ She quoted her brother.

“Why would I quit?” He asked her incredulously, his eyebrow raising before he looked back down to the map.

“We’ll regroup with H.” Kit couldn’t believe someone was arguing with _her_ about not giving it a rest. By the time Kit quit something, everyone had been urging her for weeks to do just that. As much as she respected the attitude, this was just senseless. It wasn’t here. Something had been mistranslated, or something moved after their research had been brought in.

“Aha! See!” Olaf spun the map around and whipped out his spyglass to her. Kit looked at him both skeptically and curiously. Kit watched what setting he turned it to and then saw in awe as he flashed the map under the spyglass.

“Trick of the light,” Olaf said with a victorious smirk. 

“O, you were right!” She muttered excitedly, watching the ink transform underneath it as it appeared dotted around the visible lines on the paper. It was showing two levels up. This _was_ the wrong floor. It had been hidden!

“Of course I was,” He said, smiling at her. Kit grinned back. They were back in business. Maybe this mishap was what got H into trouble with the plan to begin with. Yes, it made sense from his message. A case of mistaken identity, it wasn’t speaking about a person, it was talking about the map. Brilliant. Olaf stood swiftly from the map to dart to the door. He started to open the door when he suddenly shut it softly.

“K? Change of plans. We’re trapped.”

“Trapped?” She hissed, Olaf crossed his arms looking around the room for an out. 

“Damn guard change,” Olaf grouched. Kit tugged the map out of his clenched hand, tracing the pathway and then counting the steps they’d taken on the stairs. Right. Kit moved over to the window, looking down to the ground for guards.

“That’s a long way down, my dear,” Olaf said over her shoulder. Kit ignored him, spinning in the windowsill to twist and look up completely. Alright, possible. She glanced along the windowsills trying to gauge the height between windows and making sure the balcony was on the thirteen floor rather than their target on the twelfth. She leaned just a bit further to try to see if it was in use when she felt a hard weight on her hips. Kit pulled her head up even with her chest to see Olaf clutching her waist.

“Careful.” Was all he said. 

Kit smirked before placing her hands over his, checking his grip on her hips. Nice and tight, so Kit schooched out further from the window until she was mostly hanging out of it. Hopefully he had good upper body strength, although he seemed to have muscle enough in his arms once he got out of that loose jacket she usually saw him in. 

As she looked away from him, Olaf was just staring intently at her. Baffled and drawn in at the same time. Kit could see no lights coming from the thirteenth floor which meant she had a chance. Her adrenaline was through the roof, more so than it usual was in these situations, she could feel it beating in her wrist. Kit wondered why momentarily. She didn’t have longer to linger than a moment, there was work to be done. She bucked her hips to scooch back in and found Olaf pulled her back in firmly.

“Now are we done with the height idea?” He asked, his eyes raised high.

“Not even close,” Kit said with a smirk, darting around him to the bag she’d set by the safe. Kit positioned all the papers back exactly, taking down the set of numbers on an embossed card just in case. She shut the safe, locking it and digging into the Volant Fleeing Duffel to pull out the gear they’d used to scale the building before.

“Remember when it broke and we almost died?” Olaf deadpanned, walking up next to her. “I do,” He said with a shake of his head. “You might as well use the curtain ties.”

“That was both of us,” She reminded him, reaching to pull off one of the carabiners to try and secure the first one. “The rope will only hold the weight of one prowler, so I'll go alone,” She told him firmly and stood with the, hopefully, fixed daisy chain.

“You’re willing to stake your life on that?”

“I’m getting to that safe,” Kit corrected him this time, and walked by him briskly. He must have known she meant it because instead of continuing to argue Olaf pushed past her in the window. Kit looked at his back questioningly.

“I’ll set it,” He told her, grabbing the gun from her hand gently. Kit felt a jolt and let him take it. “Longer arms,” He explained, which seemed unlike him. Olaf was going to help her with her concoction?

“Considerably,” She agreed and he ducked his head under the window to aim the gun up.

“The balcony?” He asked questioningly.

“The balcony,” Kit confirmed, confident in the idea. He wasn’t, apparently, because he muttered something before she heard the hiss of the gun going off and his shoulder kicked back with it. Leaning back in, Olaf handed her the D-link and she fastened it to her harness, giving the rope three harsh tugs. It stuck and she nodded to herself before setting the gun on the floor. She locked eyes with her partner.

“I’ll get the dial.”

“I’ll find us an ideal way out of here,” He answered her roughly. Kit nodded and climbed out of the window, creeping up the next two floors. Her feet were planted roughly on the building when she felt the weight disappear and the rush of air for a nanosecond. Before Kit could recognize the feeling of falling behind her navel, an uneven jerk had her caught half a floor too low. The grappling hook, which had unrooted from the balcony above, hung precariously by one of its prongs. Grinning, she looked up to survey the hold to the balcony floor. It was enough. She wasn’t done yet.

“Kit!” Olaf called, oh he shouldn’t use her name in the field. “Let go, I’ll catch you!”

“That’s not a good idea,” Kit called back without moving. Any small movement and she might go down the wrong way.

“It’s a wonderful idea!” He called harshly. “Better than, fall to your doom and they’ll only recognize your pretty golden hair amongst the gore.” Olaf insisted but Kit started to tune him out as she took in her situation. 

She unclipped the harness from the rope in case it fell. Kit didn’t want to get dragged down. She reached down carefully to the knife hooked to the inside of her pants, sliding it out. Kit clenched her eyes as she used some of her weight to slam it into the mortar between the bricks. 

It stuck, but the hold sent the rest of the rope tumbling downward. She cringed hearing the metal hit the wall with a loud thunk.

“Uff!” She heard, and the metal clanging stopped. Olaf must have caught it. Good, they still couldn’t be caught. The knife was shaking loose and Kit clenched her teeth before using the last bit of hold it had to throw herself upwards. Her fingers brushed the edge of the windowsill, and she slid for a wretched moment before her grip caught.

Kit let out a very slow, steady breath as she concentrated on holding her body perfectly still. Well. She was alive. Assess. She was clutching to a windowsill on the twelfth floor after the rope broke. It was gone now, along with the knife. She just needed to somehow get up and open the window. So far she only knew how to keep clutching to it.

Okay. What did she have? A lockpick, her spyglass, crooked glasses, and an enduring wish to not fall to her death. What else did one need? Kit slowly started to rock herself, until she managed to get her legs swinging up above her. She wedged a boot against the sill, dragging herself up onto the, thankfully thick enough, window sill. 

Kit wobbled back a moment as she stood up, her fingers scraping at the brick before she was able to catch her balance on the ledge. Kit moved slowly to start work on getting the window open. Fortunately the window was the same as the one before and her spyglass helped make short work of it.

Slipping in, Kit spent considerably longer on finding and cracking the safe. Getting into it went considerably smoother than getting into the twelfth floor window had. Luckily for them all, because too many mistakes would be noticed. Kit moved back to the window, throwing her head over the windowsill to see Olaf still staring up at her. 

“Still want to catch me?” She called playfully.

“You’re hilarious!” He grumbled in answer, sounding rather cranky. Kit smiled and waited until he tossed the gun up to her. She caught it deftly and Olaf disappeared to tie it off. 

She felt three tugs on the line and she tied off her end. She felt better knowing she’d knotted the rope herself rather than relying on the grappling hook again. Kit tucked her glasses away, before slipping out the window and back to the tenth floor where they’d started. When her feet met firm ground, Kit was very grateful for the fortunate circumstances. Kit turned to cut the rope and reposition her glasses.

“That was… something,” Olaf said, his clever remarks lost to him. Kit reached up to fix her loosened bun next.

“Thank you,” She said, grinning at him. It was his turn to smile as she flashed him their prize from her pocket.

“The dial!”

“The dial,” She said appreciatively, walking by him to dump her harness into the bag. He’d taken his off and Kit could imagine they weren’t going to have a lot of luck taking the way they came. That rope had run its course. “Did you find an exit?”

“Well, you left me with the hard job,” He pretended to complain and Kit did her best to hold back a smile. Olaf grinned and then gestured. “I managed.”

“Good,” She nodded, tucking the dial away safely as Olaf picked up the duffel. “Now let’s get this to H and get the hell out of this country.”

“Finally! I knew we could agree on something,” Olaf replied and took her along to the servant’s elevator. Kit watched to make sure the coast was clear and Olaf took a moment in getting the door pried open. 

“After you,” He gestured when it finally lurched open with a metallic groan. Kit peered down to survey the shaft. Okay, she could work with this. So long as no one used the elevator while they were in there it would be perfect. Even so, at least there was more to hold onto if they fell.

“You like climbing now?” She asked cheekily. He made a scoffing noise, thought better of it and then smirked.

“Well after your show, I needed a better second act,” Olaf said, handing her a pair of gloves and the D-clip from the rope she’d dropped earlier. Kit slipped them out of his hand with a wink, dropping down the elevator to their escape.


	4. “If you want to know where your heart is, look where your mind goes when it wanders.”

* * *

The Lathe of Heaven opened up under her fingers, this library’s copy worn from her as much as her own copy at her apartment was. She’d looked for something different to read as she waited, but she found herself drawn back to the old friend. When she got interrupted she wouldn’t be stuck in the book, she knew it page to page. Settling down in front of it, Kit opened to her favorite sections needing nothing more than memory alone.

_“He never spoke with any bitterness at all, no matter how awful the things he said. Are there really people without resentment, without hate, she wondered. People who never go cross-grained to the universe? Who recognize evil, and resist evil, and yet are utterly unaffected by it? Of course there are.”_

_“The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means. It doesn’t make any difference if his end is good; means are all we’ve got.”_

_“We’re in the world, not against it. It doesn’t work to try to stand outside things and run them that way. It just doesn’t work, it goes against life. There is a way but you have to follow it. The world is, no matter how we think it ought to be. You have to be with it. You have to let it be.”_

_“He was not interested in detached knowledge, science for science's sake: there was no use learning anything if it was of no use. Relevance was his touchstone.”_

_“Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; re-made all the time, made new. When it was made, they lay in each other's arms, holding love, asleep.”_

“Hello, Kit,” A voice broke through the passage she was focused on and Kit smiled. “I got your message.”

“I thought you might,” She said, trying to suppress a smirk. Olaf waved the D-clip in front of her before setting it down on the table. Kit laughed lightly. So it wasn’t their usual sort of messages, but her point came across wonderfully. 

“Why’s it always a library anyways?” Olaf questioned surly. 

“This is the library where I did my apprenticeship,” Kit explained. She knew it well and she appeared here often with nothing to do with the organization anymore. She happened to know that on Wednesdays, the Volunteer who ran it took a day off. An incredible librarian, despite not being a part of their organization, ran it unaware of its extra curricular activities.

“What a _boring_ apprenticeship.” Olaf surveyed the rows of books she was perched between. Kit wished it _had_ been boring.

“You don’t like to read?” She asked surprised, noticing the disinterested way he looked around him. He was a Volunteer and after their shared adventure off the coast almost two weeks ago Kit knew he was a good one. So, it took her by surprise. It was different from the usual. Everyone had a specialty, their own talents, but all had a sharp love for imaginative work and an appreciation for literature. She supposed _Olaf_ was very different, though. She’d thought about it a lot this week.

“I _read_ ,” He emphasized, but there was something else to his voice. “I just hate lengthy muck like this.”

“A strange attitude for a Volunteer,” She commented lightly, closing the cover to her book. Olaf got a sour look on his face and Kit leaned a hand against her cheek, looking up at him. She was glad the look disappeared before even a moment passed, Kit didn’t know how to respond.

“I’m a man of the theatre!” He jerked his hands out. “Poetry, ballads, monologues, that’s my prose.”

She didn’t point out that he used the wrong use of the word prose, but theatre was literature, too. It was simply expressed in a different way. Nonetheless, it was still the sharing of a story, really. Kit suddenly remembered his interest when she’d quoted Othello. Actually that made a fair amount of sense. He was very animated about everything. Kit thought back to her book, thinking Olaf was quite in the world.

“Theatre sections three rows thataway,” Kit said good natured. Olaf looked at her and smiled just a bit. See, no need to get defensive about it. “These books are what really have importance, though, plays too,” She added so he didn’t get that sour look again. “It’s all been here before us, and it’ll outlive us as well. We’re just ghosts, but some ghosts get written into a new life.”

“Well, well, well,” Olaf drawled, surprised. He reached out to the chair next to her and pulled it out to sit. “How very morose of you.”

Kit adjusted as he sat, to make room for his long legs and made herself sit a little straighter even as he laid back against the chair. She suddenly felt, and ignored, the urge to check on her hair. She’d gotten so lost in her book she’d been leaning her hand against it.

“So why did you send me that message, Kit?”

“I just wanted to make sure you heard that H made it back,” She explained easily. Of course. Hector had come back just three days ago, and she’d wanted to get in contact with Olaf. Well, they should… sure it up. Hector knew not to say anything already, but to check they didn't miss any marks.

“With the item in hand, I hear.” Olaf winked at her. They grinned conspiritously to each other and he leaned up on the chair then.

“And to think, _you_ wanted to leave,” He teased her.

“Regroup,” She corrected.

“Regrouping is just a nicer word for quitting,” Olaf pointed out.

“It’s called a good strategy,” Kit said, a smirk playing with her lips as she fought it. “Or technical mistakes could occur.”

“I still say I would have caught you.” Olaf said unphased. They shouldn’t even be talking about it in public, but she couldn’t stop herself suddenly. Besides, a library was always a safe place.

“Better not to need to find out,” Kit pointed out.

“Fair enough.” He conceded. She’d won their little tête-à-tête but Olaf just smiled at her anyways.  
  
Kit glanced away at her book and realized she was at a loss for words. Not her usual, but she felt flighty. It was just… now... with Olaf draped so casually in front of her again, Kit had to be honest with herself.

She couldn’t get it out of her head, the feeling of his grip on her hips as she hung out the window. Olaf’s sharp retorts, his arrant confidence even faced with their odds. The clever way he’d read the message unlike the normal coding, the right way in this case. The way he seemed unable to give up. Or maybe it was the easy way they traded stories and barbs on the plane ride home. The two hadn’t run out of conversation, each trying to outdo the other until they were both laughing at themselves.

She’d never come across someone _more_ stubborn than she was but he left her exasperated more than once. Of course, her arguments made more sense, but he just simply refused to let go of his side of a debate. Neither gave up any ground or admitted defeat and yet… it felt playful, instead of challenging. The conversation seemed endless. Seven hours had clicked right by. 

Ever since her mind continued to wander back to something he’d said, or the way he’d said it, like an enthralling book she’d finished but couldn’t let go of. Her eyes had been wandering over his strong features as her mind ran away with her again. Now, Kit wondered… was she crazy, or was Olaf staring back just as intently at her now? His vivid blue eyes seemed to soften, and as many times as she’d looked back at this moment, Kit would never be able to figure out who leaned forward first.

It was no chaste kiss. Olaf didn’t wait for her reaction, although he wouldn’t be able to. His lips searched hers forcefully and Kit reached up to run her hand over his collar to press into the back of his neck. Chills danced through her as he set a hand on her face to draw her head to the side, closer. Not even chills, it was like small, tiny sparks being set off on timers under her skin whenever he started to touch. For once, her thoughts floated away.

Olaf trailed a hand down her side, and he pleasantly surprised her when he gripped her side to drag her chair closer with a sharp tug. Kit took advantage of the new lack of distance to wrap her arm around his shoulders and deepen their kiss.

For some time, The Lathe of Heaven was forgotten on the table beside them.


	5. “When I loved you, I realized I have never truly loved anyone,  I realized I will never truly love anyone the way I love you.”

* * *

“Mmm hmhm,” Olaf chuckled into her lips as Kit grew agitated by her crappy front door’s lock springing out each time she tried to get it to close behind her. Screw him for laughing! She hated this damn door, and Kit couldn’t get it half distracted by him teasing her lips. Finally Olaf just shoved her against it, reaching behind her to turn the lock. The door shutting made her chest bang fiercely with it.

Kit didn’t waste time now that the damn door was disposed of and they were safely tucked in her apartment. He’d already found that spot on her neck and she forgot the entire issue. The way his fingers danced down over her skin made her forget everything except how much closer she wanted to be. Kit wrapped a leg around his thigh, cursing their height difference once again. It never stopped her hands, though. 

“Kit,” Olaf gasped, making her frown as he pulled away from her grasp. Hey. “I didn’t come all the way to your apartment to do you on the door.”

“You seem to like the research section’s door,” Kit said coyly, glancing up at him and making a show of unwrapping her hands from him.

“That’s another story,” He smirked, snaking his arms down her sides.

Kit grinned at his wordplay. “Well I didn’t bring you all the way to my apartment for you to keep talking.”

“Good thing I had other things in mind,” He muttered lowly, and wrapped his arms around her waist to lift her up. Kit wrapped her other leg around him and used the sudden height advantage to kiss him harder. They were doing too much talking right about now. Olaf, though, was going way past her bedroom.

“Left,” She muttered, pulling against his lips. “No, no, more left,” She broke away as he stopped by the bathroom. He groaned frustrated but Kit just laughed. “It was the first door.”

Kit hadn’t thought about it, that he hadn’t been here before. She kept her lips off him for a second to shove her bedroom door open so he wouldn’t let go of the grip he had on her.

“Nice bedroom,” Olaf said jokingly.

“It’s too dark to see,” She rolled her eyes, squeezing him tighter as she moved her attention to his sharp jawline.

“I’ve got _amazing_ eyesight I’ll have you know.”

“Oh stop talking,” Kit groaned. In revenge, Olaf dropped her unceremoniously onto the bed instead of sitting her down. She let out a slight gasp at the sudden lack of contact. Kit could just barely see his smirk in the light of her alarm.

“You call _that_ a height?” She scoffed, stretching herself out to tease him. _Well_ if he wanted to leave her alone. He chuckled deeply and Kit managed to hide her grin as he dropped down next to her quickly instead of trying to act aloof any longer.

“It’s not twelve stories, but I’m working on limited material,” Olaf shot back, pulling her sweater off. Kit rolled out of his grip and swung up to hang over him, straddling his waist so she could take off his jacket instead. She leaned down to nip at his lip and he reached up to yank her hair pins out and loosen her hair with equal fervor.

“You, have too much,” He muttered, tossing her hair sticks somewhere they clattered on the floor. Olaf tried to set the second one down on her nightstand without tossing it when she griped about him losing them. Instead Olaf hissed as he hit his wrist hard on the table. Well, he had a lot longer arms than she did and he didn’t know where her furniture was. For some reason that fact struck Kit into thinking that he was in _her_ bedroom. Somehow that made this suddenly feel much more real to her. 

“I’m pretty sure we can handle it,” She pouted playfully, to stop her over thinking. He squeezed her hips, switching their positions so he was over her. Her pulse raced higher as Olaf got so much closer. Kit wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a light kiss against his throat, before glancing up at him. 

Kit was quietly confused to see whatever he was going to say sort of... faded away. He paused over her, stopping their little tug of war and Kit couldn’t describe the look that she saw in his gaze. It wasn’t really lust, but a different sort of focus… of yearning? She was at a loss of words herself, but her breathing quickened from the way he was staring so deeply at her. She almost felt self conscious, but it wasn’t a bad thing. Just different, as different as the way he leaned down to kiss her softly. It felt real, too.

“Kit,” Olaf’s strained voice whispered, snaking his arms through hers to take her face in his hand. Their harsh breaths collided a moment later and it was surreal. In the moment he dropped the last word to kiss her passionately instead, Kit knew that this had crossed over into far more than a game for either of them.

**_*Veiled Frisky Duration*_ **

Kit had woken up at dawn, her curtains weren’t pulled closed and the sunlight tricked her out of her deep sleep. She blinked against the harsh light, turning to escape it and heard an unhappy groan. Kit turned her head, as Olaf tightened his grip around her waist in sleepy protest. She bit her lip not to laugh and waited to shift more comfortably until it seemed like he’d fallen back to sleep.

He was sleeping heavily, if she could go by his deep breaths. Kit got stuck staring at him for a while, Olaf seemed so different asleep. Like someone else entirely, even. He was so still, except for his chest rising and falling. Olaf was constantly moving, constantly had something to say or do. She sort of imagined he’d be the same in his sleep but he didn’t so much as twitch. Kit had never never seen him so peaceful… and a rogue question asked her what else there was to learn about this man. Kit found herself really wanting to know.

It was morning, though, and mysteries were never solved when they were discovered. Instead Kit just watched his breathing until sleep stole her away again. She’d been sleeping lightly until she was tugged from sleep by a soft pressing at her lips. Kit’s eyes fluttered open and Olaf leaned away with this silly grin. He looked more like himself now that he was awake, and Kit couldn’t help but return his infectious grin.

“That’s a nice way to wake up,” She told him quietly, letting the back of her fingertips brush up and down his neck. The moment seemed so strange. He was looking at her now the same way he had last night, softly, and as if he too had realized the sudden change between them. What it was, Kit still wasn’t sure, but she wondered if Olaf knew. 

“I’m partial,” He said a little boastfully. Kit laughed lightly, leaning up to kiss him harder. He pushed a hand into her loose hair and they sunk further into the bedding. That, at least, Kit knew what to do with. Even if there were lovely mysteries to be discovered now.

Eventually they got out of her bed and she pointed to where the bathroom was for him.

“What a hostess, you didn’t even give me a tour before you took advantage of me!” Olaf said in a scandalized tone.

“Oh is that how it went?” Kit said, smirking deviously at him. Olaf shrugged innocently (not that he pulled it off) and kissed her shortly before ducking out of the room. Kit turned back around to make up her bed and then searched around diligently for her favorite hairpiece. He’d nearly lost them a dozen times, but she retrieved it from her closet floor and set it on her nightstand.

“Pesky trinkets,” Olaf commented from behind her, making her turn to take him in. Kit smiled, slipping around him.

“Accessories,” She corrected. “At times get out of jail free cards, or an excellent bookmark.”

“ _Everything_ is your bookmark,” Olaf snorted, and Kit didn’t have anything to say. Everything was, but she loved those hair pieces.

She dressed and cleaned up quickly before finding he’d ducked out of her bedroom. Kit spun her hair on the top of her head messily, smiling at the thought that Olaf was waiting for her. The hallway was short and Kit found he’d moved into her kitchen. The door to the small living room, more a library, was open and he was waiting for her at her kitchen table. Kit gave him a small smile as their eyes met.

“It’s small, but cozy.”

“Nicer than the library,” Olaf smirked. “Much nicer than headquarters.”

“It’s closer at any rate,” Kit chuckled, she certainly enjoyed the library more. Honestly, she wasn’t very decorative. She didn’t spend much time in her apartment. Kit was always busy with the organization, or she’d stop and stay with her parents for a weekend when she was off. The Snicket mansion, in her opinion, had the best library. Here the ‘library’ got the most use, and embarrassingly enough, it wasn’t very large. She just enjoyed going out to read far more and she liked donating her books to the library if it wasn’t one she knew she’d need to read a few more times.

“I should make you breakfast,” Kit said suddenly, opening the fridge to pull out two waters for them. Kit’s eyes fell over her mostly empty fridge. She leaned away again and admitted. “But, I can’t cook.”

“Neither can I.” Olaf smiled brilliantly at her, and it eased the odd nerves in her stomach. Kit felt relieved and went to sit down at her table with the water. She was always so utterly at ease with Olaf. Worrying over what he thought of her life seemed silly. 

They looked at each other, and Kit got the idea she wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what exactly to do. It felt like there should be something, and she hadn’t even begun to think about her day, too focused on having Olaf sitting in her kitchen after spending the night. Thankfully, with Olaf around, there was rarely the chance for a too long silence or any awkwardness. He slipped away from it like olive oil. He didn’t fail her now either.

“Well, since neither of us can, may I take you out for a breakfast cooked by a reliable chef?” He asked, reaching out to pluck at one of her fingers to play with. Kit smiled at the way he phrased it, wrapping her fingers around his.

“I know a great diner at the end of the street.”

“Ooh, a diner. How dodgy,” He faked a chill. Kit laughed, oh what was dodgy about a diner?

“The best food comes from diners.” She let him know.

“Time to put that theory to the test,” He said, pulling her away from the table so they could get ready to head out. This was just… so strangely _homey_ , Kit didn’t think she minded though. It just all felt new. Kit followed after him, hoping she could steal most of the day away with Olaf, too. Maybe she would find a new insight on this mystery they were creating together. Kit felt her nerves ease away into a low excitement instead.


	6. "True affection is in doing what you don’t love for someone else.”

* * *

Kit grinned down at the ‘coded’ message she found left on her kitchen table when she got in early in the evening. It was coded, but not with V.F.D. codes, that wouldn’t be appropriate to leave around. Instead it was a playful creation and Kit smiled as she worked it out within three minutes. Oh, it was a riddle, he was spoiling her wasn’t he? Olaf hated these sorts of things.

_“Meet me where the sun finally rests and reflects with its inverse.”_

Kit grinned eagerly, setting her bag down to think it through. Three different meanings came to mind right away and she inspected the sheet. The phone rang just a few minutes in, and Kit wondered if that was Olaf seeing if she’d figured it out. She had, she was pretty sure. It was Jacques, actually, and she leaned against the wall as she set the receiver on her shoulder. 

“I’m stuck out tonight, I’m sorry sis,” Jacques said, and she could hear he was a little down about it.

“I’m sorry you have to.”

“I don’t mind, it's just I don’t want to abandon you.”

“Actually it looks like Olaf made plans,” Kit said, her voice growing warmer. “He left me a riddle to meet him somewhere.” Kit grinned into the phone, rolling the solved puzzle between her fingers.

“Hot damn, I’m going into shock,” Jacques laughed.

“Jacques don’t be a terror,” Kit rolled her eyes. He was the worst, she knew he was teasing, but she still had to give him shit for it. 

Kit wasn’t entirely sure Jacques could see what made Kit decide to steadily date Olaf, but he didn’t go so far as to be outright against it. Which she needed, because Lemony and Olaf were already contentious long before she and he became a thing. But Lemony and her had a different relationship. She was his big sister, and he came to her about things whereas Jacques and herself had always been on the same level. Both constantly taking in the other’s advice as if it were their own. 

So maybe she was a little more disappointed Jacques wasn’t enthusiastic about it now that she was starting to really care for Olaf. Jacques was too respectful of her decisions to say anything. He and Olaf got along rather well before and still did, but Kit at least could tell Jacques didn’t think Olaf _was_ on her level. He was just different than a lot of the Volunteers, but Olaf brought his own expertises. He was on her level, it just didn’t look the same. It was harder to appreciate, for someone as straightforward as her brother, perhaps. She tuned back to Jacques, having lost track of what he was saying.

“M would love it if he applied himself this much in his ‘ _writing’_.”

Kit looked down at the paper curling in her hands. Didn’t that just make it more charming, though? That Olaf must have gone far out of his way to do this for her. It was a good riddle. 

“Think he knows?” She asked, a mix of nerves and excited.

“Oh probably,” Jacques said, but then his voice was drowned out by a passing horn. “...you ought to dress up, knowing O.”

Did he think so? Kit frowned, tugging at her lip as she tried to think about it. Probably not? She didn’t love flashy, but she was starting to get used to it, dating Olaf. She could go mid way, just in case Jacques was right.

“I’m on the taxi tonight, want a pick up?”

“I’d love it,” She said quickly. Kit would like to spend some time alone with just Jacques. She’d make the punch they always ended the night on. “Mom was sore you left early from brunch.”

“Were you?”

“No, of course not Jacques,” Kit said quickly to her twin. Kit understood the necessities of what they did. They were lucky he had all day with their parents and only left early. The same couldn’t be said for Lemony, he called apologetically, but he was tied up in Brazil and couldn’t get out in time. She understood and she knew her parents did, but they still were disappointed. “Besides, it's as much your day as mine.”

“I’m getting past the age where I care all that much.”

“We never cared,” She pointed out, and smiled at Jacques’ hearty laugh through the phone.

“I’ll be there in about twenty, is that okay?”

“See you soon,” Kit said tenderly, smiling as she set the phone down. She wouldn’t stay sane without him, she swore. Now she had to make the punch and figure out what was enough to wear but not too much. She didn’t want Olaf to think she’d expected anything. Couldn’t he have written more into that riddle?

**_*Very Funny Double*_ **

“Night,” Kit smirked at Jacques as she slipped out of the taxi. She’d been early enough they’d spent a good forty minutes driving around, casually drinking their punch while he did his work. It was the way she liked celebrating today best, actually. Jacques was a riot this evening, too. She’d already laughed her lipstick partially off. If she wasn’t so curious about what Olaf was up to, she wouldn’t want to leave. Kit was flush with options this year and she wasn’t adverse to it.

Oh she _had_ gotten it, there Olaf stood waiting at the edge of the docks, looking rather good. She was relieved to see he was wearing a nice shirt but not too much, so her dressy top and updo wasn’t too much.

‘The sun rests on the horizon and for a moment, dances on the waves with the moon,” Kit said, grinning widely. He chuckled as she put her arms around his neck to greet Olaf with a kiss.

“I should have made it harder for the likes of you.” Olaf grinned, taking her hand and guiding her away from the docks.

“It was perfect,” She confessed, wrapping her arm around his so she could lean against him. Kit honestly didn’t care where they were going now. Just seeing him standing there waiting for her and smiling like that felt enough.

“How’re your parents?” He asked, and Kit was still half trying to figure out where they were going in walking distance.

“They’re doing great,” Kit smiled, pleased to see he wanted to know. Olaf had met them once. He had been rarely embarrassed with them actually. Something he _never_ was but Kit enjoyed seeing it. In his defense he’d stopped by her apartment without realizing they were there. “They were just happy we made it up.”

“I’m sure they wanted to spend time with their kids on their birthdays,” Olaf said, looking down at her slyly. “Happy Birthday, by the way.”

“First off,” She said with a questioning gaze. “Did you have to research to find out, or did Jacques spoil it?”

“You know something, I did have to, and somehow I stayed awake through it.”

Kit laughed, shaking her head at him. He was just as bad as Jacques, nevermind! The two certainly got going when they ended up together. Jacques was usually so watchful, so it was nice to see him get pulled into things with Olaf. Maybe she overthought her twin’s opinion, because they did get along when she thought about it.

“Why didn’t you tell me!?” He asked, pouting.

“Do any of us _really_ celebrate our birthdays?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. After all they’d learned and been since they were so young. The glamor of it sort of faded and seemed so less important compared to the world’s problems.

“I sure as hell do,” Olaf said. “So there was no way I was going to miss _yours_.”

Kit felt herself warm up a little bit, and gently pulled on his arm so he’d lean down and she could kiss him. “Well, thank you,” She added and was rewarded with a soft smile from him.

“Now Olaf, your riddle was incomplete, where are we going?”

“Oh, just around the corner,” He explained vaguely. Kit narrowed her eyes suspiciously. As if to distract her he motioned to the bag he had hanging off his shoulder.

“Speaking of your curiosity,” Olaf said with a sly grin. “I brought your gift too.”

Oh a gift, her family weren’t big gift people. So naturally Kit wasn’t good at receiving them. Olaf didn’t wait, reaching into his bag for it. Kit expected something flashy, but when he handed her a package with a very familiar weight her eyes lit up. 

“You bought me a book,” She muttered, touched. Olaf generally hated books, for the most part, and Kit opened the paper dying to find out what he thought was a great read for her. It would say a lot. Picking a book for someone was one of the most complex things one could do, in her opinion. Of course, leave it to Olaf to utterly shock her. Kit laughed as she opened it, grinning amused at him. _Betty Crocker Good and Easy._

“Got myself a gift, too,” He said suddenly and her eyes squinted out of the curious statement. He drew another spine from his bag, and Olaf held up a yellow book with a flourish.

“Cooking basics for dummies,” Olaf read. “I think it’ll do.”

Kit couldn’t stop her laughter. Oh he was the worst, but it was actually pretty cute. They notoriously ate out, or bought frozen things Kit could manage with. They all learned so much, just never to cook! Lemony, actually, was very handy in the kitchen and had supplied Jacques and Kit with many a nourishing and delicious meal. She missed that the most from her father, his cooking was always phenomenal.

“I figured between the two of us we could work it out,” He said, wrapping his hand around hers after he’d put both of the books away. Kit smiled affectionately at him. Honestly, it was very thoughtful. Kit was maybe dying to try and see him cook, as well. He had so little patience with certain things that this would be amusing with neither of them knowing what they were doing. 

They stopped, suddenly and Kit had momentarily forgotten they even had a destination. Olaf made time slip by her in a way nothing else did.

“I decided dinner was necessary if we were going to try and cook,” He motioned to the waterfront restaurant she’d read about. Well, she’d used a review of it to piece together code for T at least. The reviews spoke favorably.

“Smart man,” Kit chuckled, draping her arm around his waist, keeping their hands locked. It looked maybe a little nicer than she was dressed for, but he wasn’t overdone either. They were waiting for the Maître d' to check on their table when he leaned down in her ear.

“I may have pushed for a second gift,” Olaf spoke up again in a lower baritone. 

“What else?” She asked, wrapping her arms further around him. Kit certainly didn’t want anything else, this was already more of celebration than she’d ever been used to.

“The day off tomorrow,” He purred, and a hard shudder ran through Kit. She wound her arms around his neck, pressing her lips enthusiastically against his. Maybe she could get used to her birthdays.


	7. “When love sneaks up on you, when it grabs onto you when you least expect it,   maybe that's more of a sign that it's real.”

* * *

She stood by the bar, waiting for her _associate_ to arrive so they could mingle with the pre-show crowd that was pouring into the theatre. The One Extinguisher Foundation was putting on their annual fundraiser with the arts, and the show promised to be a good one with the turnout of rich, notable people standing around for tickets to be checked. 

Kit was interested in only one, a small bookish man, who she had been given a photo of hours prior. They wouldn’t meet with the man until after the show. There was a formal afterparty for the fundraising event and that was where their contact would give them the location of another contact; who in turn would have the papers Kit needed for the next stage of her extradition of a member of their organization.

She felt his electric presence a moment before he spoke, her eyes picking him up in the reflection of the ice buckets along the back of the bar.

“You look beautiful,” Her associate said quietly in her ear, and Kit turned to give Olaf a warm smile.

“The tux isn’t hard on the eyes, either,” She addressed him lightly.

“Whose surprised?” He preened, before smirking at her mischievously. She nudged Olaf’s arm down as he moved to wrap it around her, but honestly she had to use the distance to not let herself get caught up in that look.

It didn’t help that she missed him. She certainly wanted a nicer greeting, too, but they had work to do. Kit had been so busy she hadn’t seen him in near a week, but it felt like so much longer than that. Olaf seemed to understand that and simply smiled at her, as he held out his elbow for her to take.

Kit did so lightly as they walked and spied through the lobby for sight of the venue hosts they’d need to rub elbows with after the show. That, though, felt very far off as they moved into the dark Kit was able to lean more heavily against Olaf. 

“This isn’t usual,” Olaf commented, as they moved past ushers helping everyone look for their seats and found their own in the din.

“I needed your theatrical experience,” She said easily. The seats were arranged around a very peculiar stage, circular and lowered from most of the stadium seating. There were platforms extending off of it, and she couldn’t help but notice the ropes hanging from above.

“They bought that, did they?” He chuckled lowly. The sound made her gaze slip to his. Surely enough Olaf was looking straight at her. His gaze piercing her own, and her resolve. Maybe it was a bad idea, he could be so distracting and the life of another of their associates hung in the balance of the afterparty. The _after_ party. Which of course meant it had nothing to do with now. Kit put it out of mind, they had to take what they could, worrying over things before they had to happen was only a waste of energy. She’d do what she planned for this night, enjoy it with the man she cared about.

“They couldn’t argue it,” She said with a small smirk. “I knew this might end up extending into some sort of stake out.”

There was the afterparty and she’d need to go straight through to the other contacts, and usually how it ended up. Kit would end up whisked away without further planning. It was the nature of their work, Volunteer’s led unpredictable lives. Thankfully, Kit was good at looking ahead of unpredictability to prepare for it. Usually it didn’t bother her. She’d miss her brothers or her parents if she was away too long, and she’d be grateful when her friends and fellow Volunteers were able to get together. Kit loved her work and she never felt her life more important than their institution's noble errands.  
  
This, though… this thing the two of them had struck up was hard not to miss. She found lately that Olaf’s absence wasn’t only a passing thought from time to time on a long mission, but a nagging reminder. It was less awful if she could call him, but most of the time, that just wasn’t possible. Kit didn’t know what that meant, but she’d been determined for it to not happen today.

The lights were dim and there was nothing to do until the show was over. In light of that convenient fact, she turned her gaze to meet Olaf looking at her expectantly, his eyebrow raised. She gave him a faux innocent look and he tried not to smirk at her.

“You didn’t answer my question,” He huffed, as they finally took their seats. She waited to say anything, untangling her arm from his to lift the ball gown she was in to let her access the seating. Kit really did hate dresses like this, but it would look good for the gala afterwards. It would look good for him, too, she thought with a blush.

They’d sat and she pretended to be busy looking at the pamphlet, but Olaf wasn’t one to let things go as much as she wasn’t.

“What’s the abnormal routine for?” He pressed again. Kit glanced at him, oh he knew, she knew he knew. Olaf just wanted to hear her say it. “Hmmm?” His voice was suddenly close enough to her ear to make her shiver. Kit looked to her right, up at those eyes, her little secret playing out there.

“It’s your birthday,” Kit smiled. “I thought we could celebrate yours like we did mine.”

He looked confused for a moment before recovering. 

“With a harrowing escape from a near oven fire?” He teased. Kit grinned at the memory but tried to look sourly at him instead. From the grin on his face Kit had failed spectacularly. 

“No,” She told him, tilting her head back to let her eyes drift to his. “Together.”

The way Olaf looked at her really paid off all the bargaining she’d had to do to make it happen. Her heart skipped a few beats and she had to firmly remind herself she was working so she didn’t kiss him. One reason they’d been hesitant to send both of them Kit was sure. It was as complicated as it was common within their organization. Unfortunately while most couples seemed to work well together, Olaf and Kit seemed to just bring out each other’s recklessness.

It didn’t matter to her at that moment. He grabbed her hand suddenly and tugged up to kiss the back of it. Maybe they had a point, he was distracting in all the best ways. Olaf also had so little self control she doubted he could even stop himself. Kit wasn’t known for hers, either.

“Well, we’ll do a real something after all this is over.” She promised, as he lowered her hand. Kit had just wanted to make his special after all he’d gone through for her birthday. His present was stuck back home, unfortunately. 

“There’s nothing wrong with this. A show done by famous performers counts as a proper birthday activity,” Olaf pointed out towards the show. “I am an actor, of course! Where else should I be but near the stage?”

Kit laughed quietly, as he flourished a hand to emphasize his point. Olaf was just trying to make her feel better.

“It’s not as nice as mine, having to work,” Kit added.

“You’re here,” He said, pointing out what she’d told him earlier and Kit decided maybe it was alright. Olaf was right, at least it wasn’t something grueling. They were dressed up, out at a show, for now even if it couldn’t be made a night of it. As soon as the lights came back on, it was time to work and not be distracted.

Kit reached out to take his hand, and he enveloped hers in his. Thankfully, the show began and the intricate artists and acrobatics captured both her and Olaf’s attention. She’d always liked the Opera more, while he thrived for the theatre, but the performers down below in the contemporary circus captured both’s attention equally. No wonder Cirque du Caligari drew such a crowd, Kit found herself gasping at more than one segment.

“I’m sure you thought you were in need of my expert advice,” Olaf muttered to her as she watched amazed at the ten or fifteen performers balancing atop bamboo sticks and plunging off of them, all held by their fellow performers. “But I won’t be auditioning here.”

“Thank god,” She muttered back, although she was unable to look away. She was so drawn to the sheer dramatics of the way they were able to push their bodies into amazing feats. “I happen to know you performed very well in your scaling class.”

“Exactly,” He said amused. “They’re more... falling to their deaths. That’s more your thing.”

Kit grinned but was engrossed as a second pair of performers took the stage and the group with the bamboo slid to the background. There were two sets of people doing aerial work up on ribbons and Kit, with all her experiences, couldn’t believe they were able to keep their partner in the air by just their ankles spinning around like that. It was a beautiful dance, though, spread out through the air.

Kit leaned against Olaf’s side to whisper. “See you can tell whose partners and whose together.”

“Alright, even _I_ can’t see this one.”

“Look, it's how they touch each other. When they’re not performing the stunts. The dance sequences… the second pair in the blue, they linger.”

“Linger?” He asked, glancing around for suspicious eyes before subtly tugging out his spyglass to watch with her.

“See? Just there, when they grab each other, or let go, his hands slide ever so subtly before he grips her and they start. Each time, the ones in the red don’t.”

“How do you know?” He asked curiously. “Maybe they’re just comfortable with each other?”

“Well, it’s possessive in a way. She’s his to linger with.” Kit explained, and she could almost hear him scoff about something girly. He didn’t say anything, but she tilted her head closer to his chest. “It’s how you are with me.”

“Possessive?” He asked with a short laugh, lowering his spyglass to look at her.

“Handsy,” She retorted and he looked away. Kit laughed softly because he knew she was right. “I didn’t say I complained now did I?”

He didn’t say anything but he smiled. With another glance around he tucked his spyglass away, before he turned his attention to the performers again.

“Ah, look again,” She said, her voice drifting as she watched them throw one another through the air. As they swung and dived, twisted and pulled each other. It was there at the end as they lowered in a final spin, his hand dragged across her forearm, and her fingers curled tighter, just a glance before they stepped away. “Can you see it just there?”

“Yes,” He hummed, but she didn’t look away to see he’d stopped looking at the performers on stage.

“That’s how you can tell they love each other.” Her mind slowed as she realized her mistake. She chanced glancing out of her peripheral. There Olaf was, staring at her with his blue eyes wider than she’d seen them before. Kit’s lips pressed into an uncertain line, that slip… she hadn’t meant to say that. It wasn’t something she meant to voice. It wasn’t something she’d thought about, either. She’d already compared the performers to them, though, and she couldn’t take it back.

“Kit...” He muttered, voice trailing off. If he’d had something to say to her, he’d lost it. Kit hardly could think herself. Did she love him? She turned to look at him, and her hand suddenly felt achy from not moving under his grasp. Kit could see him look at her questioningly and that rare, vulnerable uncertainty entered her lover’s eyes. Her chest heaved uncomfortably, and then suddenly his lips turned into a soft smile.

“I love you too,” He said it so quietly, she almost couldn’t hear it. Kit stared at him uncertain herself for once. Then, it was like his words broke through the nervous spell and a smile transformed her face. She hadn’t thought it before herself, or meant to slip it in, but there it was. Except, it didn’t hang between them, it felt more like a door opening. Apparently, they both did. Olaf’s other hand slipped behind her neck and she easily leaned into him, as he sealed their lips in a kiss. 

Nothing else mattered but the two of them sitting there together. Eventually the music seemed to filter back into her perspective and she remembered in a far off corner she was supposed to be working. It didn't seem so important suddenly.

“So that’s why you maneuvered me being here, you sly woman.” Olaf teased her as their lips parted. Her head was still spinning and she could hardly think, staring at his blue eyes. With her accidental declaration, the rest seemed to spill from her too. The strange new feelings lately, the intensity of it all, how she seemed to think differently even. The truth felt safe now, as long as it was said between them. Olaf felt just the same as her.

Kit just hadn’t realized when this all got so incredibly serious. Do the scary thing first, and get scared later, she reminded herself.

“We were taught not to mind being alone,” She whispered, reaching up to set her hand against his chest. Kit could feel his heartbeat faintly there, just barely over the fabric and the noise around them. It gave her a sort of strength. “But I find it so hard now, when you’re not there.”

The look he gave her made the unsettling declaration alright. In a world filled with chaos to be battled into quiet, he made so much seem alright. Olaf’s longing, affectionate look transformed into something much more serious. Olaf’s hand slipped from her face and he grasped the hand she had laid over his heart tightly. 

“Honestly, Kit…” He said in such a quiet, thoughtful way, Kit almost didn’t recognize it. “I can’t imagine life without you anymore. You just make everything better.”

Kit's smile twitched and turned bigger and damn them being here for work. Right now, Kit Snicket just wanted to be alone with the man she loved. Who loved her with just as much enthusiasm.

“I love you Olaf,” Kit muttered, a nervous smile pulling on her face. Saying it out loud was terrifying, and yet it sent such a thrill through her. She lived a thrilling life but not like this. This thrill was incomparable to anything she’d ever felt before. Kit wanted to say it over and over again, just to see the way his eyes lit up each time.

“Well how do you like that for a birthday present,” He muttered rakishly before abandoning their terrible self control and kissing her soundly. It wasn’t until the next act started up with a loud clash of symbols and an energetic tune that either of them realized where they were again.


	8. “Only those who care about you can hear you when you're quiet.”

* * *

Olaf’s parents were hosting a ball for the official fire department tonight. Kit was used to Olaf and her having the whole ballroom to themselves, dancing together and laughing. Sometimes he’d play something he was working on while she lounged and read his screenplays. Having it full of life and in full swing was nice to see, though. As it was her second year attending and she was comfortable with Olaf’s parents now, Kit was happy to tend to helping his mother have everything go off well. Kit really got along with Olaf’s mother, it shouldn’t surprise her.

Kit had learned that as soon as she’d met the woman, asking ‘How do you do?’ and receiving a surprising answer; ‘Very Fine Dear.’ It was almost too normal of dialogue, it could be a complete coincidence. It could be, if she believed in such things. Kit had asked her a code and she just started up the stairs without answering, patting the triangle stopper adorned with a very familiar symbol of letters. It was mocking, even, the more she looked the more it seemed the entire house seemed to be covered in their organization’s mark. Kit hadn’t seen somewhere with it quite so blatantly there without it being an official forum. The woman always had socks on, too, and that was quite telling.

When she’d asked Olaf about it later he explained she used to be, but had retired from the organization, to his knowledge. She’d never been part of any of it, during his childhood. Kit didn't quite believe it, but she wasn’t in her and the other Volunteer’s view, at least. Maybe it was true. Kit would prefer it. She didn’t like thinking there were seperate parts of them, but Kit just had a suspicion. 

Strange, seeing as Olaf’s father was part of the Official Fire Department, which despite their valiant work, had nothing to do whatsoever with their organization. It was clear with how he was with Olaf that he had little idea of the real truths behind it all. Or, perhaps he was simply very good at pretending? Surely he would know if his wife was part of them? Kit didn’t know the protocol on that, if there was such a thing. A member of the Volunteer Fire Department and the Official Fire Department. Theirs must be an interesting love story, no wonder they produced such a wonderful son.

Kit returned back into the kitchen to set down a silver tray full of empty glasses. She’d had one drink herself during the toast but was content to clean up. The Countess looked up from where she was talking with the head of the staff.

“Oh you’ve really done enough, dear,” She said, brushing Kit out of the kitchen. “Let the help, help.”

“Alright,” She smiled, and unloaded the tray before she set it on top of the counter sitting in front of the massive stone fireplace they had for cooking. A modern stove was in front, of course, but Kit wondered how old the building must be to have it built in like this.

She wandered back through the party, eyes searching out her boyfriend. As soon as she got past the few individuals still dancing, Kit was able to pick him out rather quickly. He was easily a head taller than the other men surrounding him and his father. 

Kit stayed off near the side, but he caught her there. Kit made to move away not to interrupt him but he gave her a sharp, warning look. 

“Sorry gents, my lady awaits,” He excitedly excused himself. His father’s friend teased Olaf but he wasn’t even listening, wrapping an arm loosely around her waist and leading them away with haste.

“Are we escaping to a very far destination?” She teased him, Olaf gave her a sour look.

“I thought you’d _never_ get me out of there,” He complained curmudgeonly. Kit laughed at him. She thought it was hilarious how much Olaf, who loved the limelight, couldn’t stand his father’s outward over affections or his father’s friends' complete warmth. It was clear they’d all known him for a long time. He had such a life outside of the V.F.D, it still seemed strange to Kit whose family and life had been a part of it for so long that she knew nothing outside of it.

“Dance with me instead, then,” She offered and he seemed more than happy to accept.

“Anytime, love.”

Now that they were dancing he had no problems trying to show off, rather that his father wasn’t around of course. She twirled into him and back out again, watching the candles on the tables blur in a rush of movement and excitement. They’d danced until her feet hurt and just as soon as they’d settled on one of the parlor’s couches away from most of the commotion, an unfamiliar face appeared with a tray from one of the waiters but a plain clothed jacket. 

The gentlemen turned to Olaf.

“Well, young lady, have you been good to your mother?"

Olaf binked once, before replying easily. "The question is, has she been good to me?”

The librarian nodded, with a smile, and then handed Olaf one of the party bags set around this evening. Olaf took it and checked inside, Kit thanked the noble man as he wandered off back into the crowd. Strange for it to arrive tonight, it must be time sensitive. Olaf frowned at The Daily Punctilio, Kit scanned the unfamiliar front page before noting it was set for tomorrow.

“Strange it's for me,” Olaf commented, folding the paper to the writer. Ah, then it would be one of Lemony’s anagrams.

“Looks to be urgent,” She said, watching him look questionably at the party. He should go decode it, the party was closer to its end than the beginning anyways.

“Go on,” Kit said, standing up from his side. “I’ll cover for you.”

He kissed her quickly before disappearing up the stairs. 

Kit did as she promised and excused him when she overheard his father asking where he’d gone to. Most of the fire fighters had had plenty to drink, so it wasn’t very difficult. Kit slipped back to the piano where the Countess sat regally and the two chatted until it was time for her to join her husband and say goodbye to their guests before they began to leave.

“I’ll see you after the party, dear.”

“Of course,” Kit smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek before picking up her dress to make her way upstairs. She was rather curious what was taking Olaf so long, it must mean it was important. So of course it only made her wish to know more ardent. 

He wasn’t in his room so she went straight upstairs. Kit took a moment to wrap up the length of her dress around her waist and undo her heels, before attempting to make it up the tower’s ladder. Olaf and this room, honestly. The trap door was open and Kit poked her head through, watching him for a moment. He seemed to still be working on the translation and hadn’t noticed her arrival. She lifted herself up and sat on the edge of the opening. She was able to lean backwards to get a better view of him. Kit always thought he was very handsome when he was concentrating on something. Sure enough, his hand was scrawling onto bits of notepaper and the newspaper was propped up under a light.

The article hadn’t seemed so long, perhaps there was a second one. Kit was about to say something when he growled frustrated and threw his pen down. He leaned over to his left, where a book was popped up. 

“The hell kind of word is labtebricole anyways,” Olaf groused, shutting the cover touchily. Kit wondered who was living in a hole. Perhaps it was a metaphor in the article. Kit could recognize the cover was the dictionary. “Doesn’t even rhyme.”

Kit frowned softly, as he wrote down a line and then paused, scowled again, and went back to the dictionary. She’d decoded plenty of messages with him and it suddenly made sense now. Different times he’d gotten stumped or said he’d finish it later, a quick excuse on hand. He just didn’t know all the more complex definitions most of them did off hand. Kit felt bad for having seen, for some reason, and decided to climb down so he didn’t know she’d been watching him.

“Fucking L,” He cursed and Kit understood. Lemony’s codes were always so complex, Kit always enjoyed them the most. He and Bertrand were quite handy with it. Kit waited a few moments before putting her heels back on to walk loudly.

“Are you up there Olaf?” Kit called, taking the heels off and climbing up the ladder again. He turned when she entered and Kit made her way across the room this time. He didn’t answer her and she could practically feel how unhappy he was.

“Lengthy?” She prompted.

“Very,” He said grouchily, turning back to his commonplace notebook to where he’d decoded the first half. His tuxedo jacket was tossed over a nearby rack and he’d worked his bowtie loose to hang down his shoulders. 

Kit leaned against his back, setting her chin on his shoulder as he scrawled in his chicken scratch a line. When he finished, Olaf moved back to start circling every other word of the next paragraph. Kit looked across the desk, finding that the dictionary was missing. He’d hidden it hearing her coming. For a moment she was almost hurt. Kit wondered why in the world he wouldn’t talk to her about it. Surely he didn’t think she’d judge him? She almost said something, because he didn’t need to hide it from _her_ but… well Kit didn’t want to embarrass him. Some things weren’t to be taken personal, they were just personal to someone else. He’d have told her if he wanted to. 

“May I take over?” She asked, not wanting to step in on his work. It wasn’t abnormal, oftentimes Kit would stare over his shoulder, eager to do it herself.

“I’m almost done, but if you want to,” Olaf shrugged unconcerned. 

Kit moved around him to sit on his lap and took up his pen to start decoding the last of the paper’s article. If not a little intentionally slow. Olaf sat still for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her waist and watched what she was doing over her shoulder. 

Decoded, they got into the message itself and Olaf had to make preparations to intercept things as Lemony had outlined in his message. Silently, Kit decided she would find a small pocket dictionary later and leave it in Olaf’s room without him knowing she put it there. That way he could sneak it out when he couldn’t slip away without being obvious.

Kit felt bad, she knew Olaf wasn’t the literature lover that many of their friends were, but she had no idea he struggled with parts of their organization because of it. It might make more sense now why he got so sensitive about certain things. 

It just made Kit loop her arms around his shoulders tightly and kiss his cheek gently. She didn’t want to imagine him struggling through anything alone. Kit was here, and she wanted to always be here for Olaf. She decided with herself in that moment that she always would be, whether he mentioned things or not. 


	9. “Love is needing, needing love”

She leaned back against the door, her coat still dripping with the downpour of rain outside. It was fitting. Ironic, appropriate. Kit rather liked the weather at this moment. It was as tormented as she, perhaps. The water had become too heavy and the clouds could no longer contain the weight that had been building.

Instead of raining, she slid down to the floor, staring blankly. She couldn’t rain. She’d been taught for so long how to hold the weight that she didn’t think she knew how to let it go anymore. Never had the weight been too heavy to not continue to pass through the sky. Everything seemed so wrong now, and it was definitely too heavy to pass.

She heard footsteps, as one hears an echo in a dark tunnel one is hiding in. Each step was loud but also soft, and it seemed very far away. These steps were not far away, although the whole world felt as if it were outside of a tunnel she were in.

These footsteps made it down the hall in short order, stopping in front of her. 

She blinked, taking in the bare feet and the familiar twisted letters staring at her from his ankle. Kit thoughtlessly reached out and brushed her fingers along the image that mirrored her own, mirrored them all. It held them together, in a way. When most of their time was spent apart, it connected each of them somehow. It showed them friends were near… but those letters didn’t do what they were supposed to do. It hadn’t stopped treachery in time to save what she loved.

The image was pulled away as the owner of the tattoo knelt down in front of where she’d slumped.

“Kit?” Olaf asked the woman he loved. A rare sort of worry marred his usually carefree face, but she was too exhausted emotionally to feel bad about it. Kit couldn’t even remember the plans they’d made to meet at her apartment when she came back into town. 

“Kit,” He urged with concern. 

She blinked at him, and after an extended length of time her eyes grew less distant under his gaze. She could at least see that it was Olaf in front of her and not a remote echo following her in the passageways. Kit couldn’t stand to say anything, though, so they sat in silence. She couldn’t stand the silence. She couldn’t stand to slump here, she couldn’t stand to think, she couldn’t stand to exist, really.

Kit was a rock, beat and beat by the relentless water’s rough waves, chipped by salt and time. There was always another wave, once the previous had hit. Nearly never enough time to breathe between. She closed her eyes, her body felt like a rock too. Immovable and hard. A little dead.

But it wasn’t _she_ who was dead.

Kit stayed like that for a moment until she felt long fingers slid up her cheek and cup her face, tilting her head up gently. She felt the urge to resist, to hide from the responsibility of questions and answers. Kit simply couldn’t find the energy to even hide. So she opened her eyes at the voice prompting her name again. She didn’t want to be Kit. Nor K. She didn’t want to _be_. She wished, rather to be an unfeeling rock, who didn’t care when the waves crashed over it and took away little specks of it.

Her breathing grew ragged as the images, the putrid scent of smoke in her nostrils and dire truths flooded her again. It never stayed away for long, and now there was no more action to take, nothing to stay strong for, and her siblings and she weren’t together. For the first time since she was a little girl, with someone snatching her by the ankle… Kit Snicker was not a Volunteer first. At this moment, Kit Snicket was just a daughter, and none of it could help her. Was this how Olaf felt when he lost his mother to that fire?

“They’re gone,” She moaned.

“Shh,” He soothed, rubbing his thumb along her cheek gently. Focusing on the movement, Kit got her breathing under control again, and finally she looked up at Olaf. He was being so comforting, not pestering her with questions she couldn’t handle. He just crouched in front of her, probably rather uncomfortable. Kit should do something to change it.

She couldn’t help it, though. Suddenly, irrationally, Kit wanted him there. Olaf was something she’d never _needed_ before. Need was never asked for or would be accepted. For either of them. It simply wasn’t who any of them were. She loved him terribly, she longed to be near him, but need was something different altogether. That was okay, it made them strong, made them be able to take the weight so they could create a quieter world. That’s always how it was, it didn’t affect Kit’s feelings for him.

Like Haber, in Lathe of Heaven, _“he got what he wanted and got clear again, before he or the other person could possibly develop any kind of need for the other. He prized his independence, his free will. But he found it terrible to be alone.”_

Kit had never found alone terrible. Maybe that was K though. But she wasn’t Kit the Volunteer, and none of the rules of her life applied suddenly, she couldn’t find the quiet. That was, of course, because in this moment, nothing was quiet. Things were loud, devastating, and firey. Wrong. _It was all wrong._

Abruptly, the man kneeling in front of her seemed to change although he did not move, or do anything differently. That must mean it was she who was changing. Change was a slow thing, built and crafted by experience. Usually. This change now seemed rapid, almost an epiphany but there was no knowledge learned, just a different lens. As if she had switched out her glasses and suddenly with a new pair things were different. Perhaps that was what this did to people, this event. This moment seemed to change things and so did his hand still holding her head up when all her own strength had fled from her for the first time.

In this moment, he was company, companionship, a desperate vital feeling she’d been taught years ago how to not have. A feeling of need and it was touched by despair. She needed someone to make it through this and Olaf was there with his eyes filled with concern. A man she trusted and loved already. His hands fidgeted with a need to do something, for her, and for once Kit let someone else.

She leaned up, towards him and kissed him, wishing to fill this void instead with the thing that always made her forget. Usually it was in a joyous way, or in a mischievous way, now… it was a needy way, and it was grief, and his lips made it disappear for a brief moment. The harder she pressed, the further from it all Kit felt.

“Just make me forget Olaf,” She pleaded with him in a broken whisper, breaking from their searing kiss. “Just make it all go away for tonight.”

He didn’t say anything, he didn’t make her talk. Olaf leaned back from her and she watched as he deftly undid the laces in her boots, tugging them and her wet socks off, revealing that sad tattoo. When she looked back up at Olaf his eyes seemed sad, like hers must be. She hardly felt his hands, with how gently he slipped her coat over her shoulders to drop onto the soaked floor. 

Kit just followed his movements with a far away gaze as he leaned down and his long arms wrapped around her shoulders and legs, pulling her up into his chest. He was warm and his shirt was soft as she looped an arm around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder. 

His scent was so strong, just him, and it always elicited a spark of energy in her. Kit could hardly feel it, but right now it wasn’t happy. Instead it made her feel safe, like she could hide from the world in his shirt, it seemed steady. As steady as his rhythmic steps and the strength in his arms as Olaf carried them away from the heavy clouds outside and to the bedroom. Kit let him, and for a while she could ignore the feeling of the waves crashing over her.


	10. “A Whole Life Ahead.”

* * *

Kit dropped in the kitchen chair, feeling mentally exhausted. They had made progress now that Beatrice’s cousin Ike was helping to break down the compound of the poison itself. It was mentally stimulating and she’d finally finished the conveyor system they needed. It was still a tad frustrating for Kit with how slow the progress was going. It was also a little odd having what was rather close to a 9-5 job. She woke up early in the mornings and met with the others at the factory and worked until around 4:30 everyday. Then another long stretch down Lousy Lane home.

“Hello, hello, hello,” A familiar voice made Kit look over her shoulder, eagerly locking her eyes with Olaf’s bright blue ones. He must have come from the bedroom, she didn’t know he was home. Kit was just glad he hadn’t been sent off with work of his own. They’d barely seen each other last night after he got into the city.

“Day off?” She asked, keeping her head back so she could stare at him. Olaf was still in his nightclothes and he nodded.

“Finally,” He complained, and Kit laughed under her breath. Must be nice, she wished she’d had it off with him. But every day was spent trying to find some way to dilute the deadly poison before it was too late. Despite her urging Gregor didn’t seem to be stopping. “It’ll be a better one now that you’re home.”

Kit smiled brightly and sighed as Olaf leaned down behind her to wrap his arms around her middle. Kit let her eyes fall shut as he kissed her temple. For now she’d forget all about Opportune Odors and instead focus on a relaxing night off with Olaf.

“Oof,” He leaned away suddenly, making Kit frown. “You smell terrible, love,” Olaf chuckled.

“You’re _so_ charming, Olaf,” Kit retorted, giving him an incredulous stare.

“While we’re stating the obvious, I can’t wait until you’re off of this one.”

Kit’s bemused smile at his usual, illogical rebuttals, turned into a sharp line. “Hey, this is maybe one of my most important-”

“Dilute poison yada yada, save lives, I know,” He said fondly and then leaned in to kiss her cheek again. “I’m teasing you.”

Kit let it go, smiling at him instead as he draped himself in the seat next to her. She leaned forwards on the table, resting her tired head on a hand. The headache was actually rather bad but she refused to waste time with him.

“Dad called, he wants us to have lunch sometime this week.”

“Dinner maybe?” Kit asked thoughtfully, making a mental note of her calendar. “We ought to find time early in the week just in case your schedule changes.”

“You’re probably right,” Olaf sighed, clearly pouting as he reached out to spin a bottle cap left on the table. It made Kit realize she was thirsty and she leaned back on her chair to grab a drink out of the fridge offering him one.

“I don’t want to put him off again,” Kit explained, glancing at him. “You’ve been busy lately too.”

“They better not _dare_ this week,” He griped, frowning. “I need days off, at least, after dealing with those dull villagers.” 

Kit smirked, yes well they were a bit of maintenance to blend in with. Not that Olaf usually went for blending in, he was far more into disguises. In a small town it was necessary anyways, that was probably why V.F.D called on him for it. Something about it was bothering Olaf, though. Kit waited patiently to see if he’d speak up or if she’d have to push at the moody look lurking behind his gaze at the bottlecap.

“Kit?” Olaf asked cautiously. “Did _you_ hear anything about the snakes?” 

She stared puzzled as she worked out what he was speaking about. Perhaps Monty’s training sessions with the snakes to pass along messages? The crickets only worked at night well and the crows were lacking subtlety. Not that snakes weren’t, but they were in very diverse locations and surprisingly common. M had written a very interesting paper to start the whole thing. Olaf added. “I didn’t know they’d finished the training.”

“I don’t believe they have, otherwise we would have heard,” Kit said with a shrug. She couldn't figure out what was bothering him about it.

“I swore I saw someone talking to them, but that means no one informed us?”

“Maybe it was training still?” She offered. That was the only conclusion she could reach, otherwise they’d all have been trained on it. There was no reason to keep a valuable means of communication out of their hands. Olaf looked troubled for another moment before he swept it away, leaning towards her again.

“Probaby, it can’t just be M afterall!” Olaf said with a shrug.

“Exactly, although he’s very good with them I hear,” Kit added, and took a sip of her drink. She should have put on tea, that would have really relaxed her.

“I wish I had a play,” Olaf changed the subject. “I’m creatively dying.”

“Well _‘The World is Quiet Here’_ will be sometime later this year, won't it?”

“Ugggh,” He drug the word out, looking back at her. Kit grinned. “Yes, but it’s the worst play I’ve _ever_ witnessed.”

“That’s the point Olaf,” Kit laughed, finishing off her first water. “So no one but us watches it and notices the code.”

“Sure, but it doesn’t do much for my career,” He complained.

“You'll find a way,” She assured him, reaching out to take his hand. 

“One day! By twenty-eight, I swear, I’ll have review after glowing review!”

Kit smiled softly, what a strangely specific age. Olaf always had so many dreams. Bound and undeterred in going after them, no matter how unlikely it was. 

“Yes, and one day I’ll be the happy wife of a main stage star.”

Olaf chuckled and reached forward to kiss her soundly. Kit’s eyes fluttered shut and she leaned into him. “You sure you won't tire of my sporadic hours and late nights, future wife?”

The dip in his voice made her shudder, and Kit couldn’t help but feel dreamy about it. Dreamy wasn’t something she usually did, but she couldn’t help but dream about the point where they were married and sharing everything together. _Wife_. Wife wasn’t something she’d ever even thought about. Kit wasn’t sure she even wanted a family, but she wasn’t sure he did either. It sort of worked out, but ever since he proposed, she couldn’t help but envision what they’d look like together in ten years, fifteen years, another twenty if they were both still alive.

“I think we’ve got that covered already, don’t we?” She finally answered.

“I suppose we do,” He muttered low, and reached out to wrap his long fingers around her left hand. Kit’s smile broadened as he slipped the snug ring back and forth on her finger. “Ooh, I can’t wait until I’m married to you,” He declared. “-and we don’t have to worry about dull _scheduling_ anymore. We should just move in together now.”

“We aren’t already?” Kit pointed out with a grin.

“No! Only half of my wardrobe has snuck its way into your draws.”

“Well I’m not arguing,” She smiled, running her thumb over the back of his hand. Besides… she knew they both felt like they’d never get time to have their wedding. More than once Kit had thought of simply going to the courthouse and finding time for a ceremony later, but she knew Olaf and knew he’d want to do it the traditional way.

“It would give me more time with you,” He purred, leaning in to kiss her again. Olaf was even more relaxing than tea. She slipped her hands around his neck, melting away for a while. Until Olaf suddenly tugged away, making Kit frown softly, she wasn’t done with him yet.

“Alright, seriously, it's shower time Kit. You smell like you should be served with a steak!”

Kit laughed loudly. “Then why did you kiss me?”

“Well because I can’t stop myself, of course.”

Kit melted a little. Well he did have a point, even if she had long since developed an oversight on how pungent the smell of horseradish was. A glint got in her eye as she reached out and tugged at the top of his shirt.

“You could always come make sure I get it all off.”

“Allow me to defile you then, my lady,” Olaf said and she didn’t correct him, Kit never did. Besides she was just fine with that definition. Olaf stoof and scooped her up off her chair. Kit made a happy noise in the back of her throat, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. As long as they kept having days like these, Kit didn’t really care when they got married. She already knew neither of them were going anywhere, rings and titles were mere formality.


End file.
